Lockyer, born the son of a surgeon-apothecary at Rugby in the English Midlands, started his career as a civil servant. He turned to astronomy and taught at the Royal College of Science, becoming director of the solar physics observatory and professor of astronomical physics from 1890 to 1901. He was one of the founders and the first editor of the British periodical Nature. He made many eclipse trips and played a leading role in attempts to reorganize the structure of British science. He wrote numerous books on popular science and virtually created the new discipline of astroarchaeology. Lockyer was knighted in 1897. Answers.com